Teenage Driving – A Mom’s Perspective

The question every high school mom fears, “Mom, can Noah pick me up and take me to the party?” My first thought was absolutely not, you can get a shower, a snack and go to bed, but then reality set in and I realized that I cannot treat him like my baby forever. After all, he is very responsible and I have no reason not to trust him.

By no means am I an expert on teenage driving but I have to say that I feel much better with my son driving himself around than allowing him to drive with other teenagers!

My first experience with Christopher driving with other teenagers occurred after the varsity football game one Friday night this past fall. Several of the players were getting together to have an all night Madden party and Christopher asked if Noah could drive him. Hesitantly, I agreed. We drove him home to change and I nonchalantly waited for them to pick up. As soon as the front door shut, I rushed to the window and saw two cars. One of the cars was quickly backing up our road and the other following going the right way as if this was a scene from Fast and Furious. I immediately called Christopher on his cell phone and told him to turn around. He said it was fine and they had already pulled out of the neighborhood. He texted me when he arrived to his destination and I felt a huge sigh of relief.

The next day was the football picnic so I said to Christopher’s friend, Connor, does your car only drive in reverse? He said “Miss Patty, that was not me”! That means it was Noah and Christopher driving backwards. I was so upset. I told my son and Noah they could never ride together again.

I never liked the idea of Christopher driving with the football players or his best friend, Brandon but I allowed it. I felt like I knew the boys but do you really?

Christopher got his learners permit and drove almost everywhere we went so I knew the day he got his license, he would want to drive. That day came two weeks ago, Monday 2/2 at 9:00. As a parent, you are wishing them to fail but at the same time you remember the awesome feeling of independence when you pass your driving test. He passed and he drove home as if he had conquered the world and I was sitting in the passenger seat with a whole new set of worries.

I very much miss driving Christopher to school every day and our talks in the afternoon after weight training or practice. I know he has to grow up but it all happens so fast. I do worry because teenage boys think they are invincible, I can only hope that he doesn’t drive like he is racing in the Daytona 500.